On vacation. Finally. Getting to this point always takes some doing – as if the gods are against this idea and will do whatever seems necessary to delay the start. Although we were flying separately from Phoenix to Dulles, mostly to due to having waited longer than usual to make flight plans, we were to have been on the same flight from Dulles to Geneva. Didn’t happen. Joe’s Phoenix-Denver flight was delayed leaving Phoenix, meaning he missed the flight from Denver to Dulles and was re-routed Orlando – Frankfurt - Geneva. And arrived in Geneva minus luggage, which had made the flight from Denver to Dulles without him and gotten stuck there since its owner was not on that flight. It finally caught up with us the next day.

After 2 days of down time with the dear people who house and care for us each year on the way to and from our Alps appartements, we were energized and ready to roll. The weather in Geneva had been warm and sunny when we arrived but rain fell all night on Friday and through Saturday and, by the time we arrived at Tignes, our first destination, which is at about 2100m (6,700’), the rain had turned to snow. Happens every year during the first or second week of June. Arrive in summer clothes and immediately start piling on the layers. The photo of the car's dashboard indicates a temperature of 4 degrees C, which is about 39 degrees F.

Tignes, which, along with Val d’Isere, was a venue of the 1992 Winter Olympics, is a very popular ski resort. It is also a summer destination because the altitude offers summer skiing on its glacier, its two lakes make possible a variety of water sports, and its warm but not hot Summer temperatures offer good hiking weather, We bought our first-two-weeks-of-June timeshares largely because of the summer skiing available at the time of purchase, This activity is no longer available, The village mayor decided that the small number of visitors at that time of year was not sufficient to keep the ski operation open and that the lifts would be shut from mid-April to the 3rd weekend of June, when the Summer season officially begins in France. Consequently, this early in June the area is dead. Really dead. One restaurant Is open – usually. The bread, essential in the life of any resident of this country, is sold at the one open newsstand. One small grocery is open for limited hours, mostly to serve the permanent residents – those who groom the ski slopes, run the retail establishments, etc. during the Winter and Summer seasons.

On the other hand, here it is quiet. And peaceful. The peaks and valleys are lovely. The glaciers glisten in the sun. The upper reaches still have snow, which serves to make the green of the lower slopes appear even brighter. Goats and cows dot the pastures. Tiny hamlets cling to the hillsides. Waterfalls are abundant and the lakes are full And the hiking is wonderful! All types of terrain are within our reach, although many of the areas we like are 20-30 minutes by car.

There is one road from Tignes. It runs from the small town of Bourg St. Maurice in the valley of the Haute Tarantaise up the mountain, past the turn-off to Tignes, through the village of Val d’Isere and over the pass of Col d’Iseran to the next valley. That’s it. The Col d’Iseran is closed during the Winter and so, at this time of year, the road ends at Val d’Isere.